ford focus or ford fiesta: new baby on way

angelicmary85

Misspenny - I could get my Britax Voyaga into the fiesta but it was a real struggle with Focus!

We've just had no2 and when a 2nd car seat is in there there's no room for a passenger in the back. We've bought a Graco Quattro Tour Duo - City pushchair (I think!!) and it goes into the boot but - only just! Not much room for shopping etc!

crapwithcash82

I would go for the bigger of the two. I had a fantastic little 52 reg fiesta from new until last year (the zetec-s one) and LOVED it to bits, but when I had my daughter, it just wasn't practical and I didn't feel safe in it with all the baby stuff packed around us!!

My OH selling his car just wasn't an option so I've ended up with a mondeo (zetec-s again, I just love them!) and its fantastic for space... definately go for the bigger car, for space and safety, I love my new car... not as much as the old one admittedly, but its perfect for family stuff!

CwC x

Krystaltips

tiamai_d wrote: »

LOL! Pet hate of mine is folk who buy HUGE prams and insist on using buses and can't fold the bloody things down or they can, but it takes 3 or 4 trips to get it on the bus!

You'd hate me then Tia... My big pram doesn't fold down but has to come apart (if it's not a modern 'wheel it on' bus) and takes at least 2 trips onto the bus... More if there is shopping... But my baby's comfort means more to me than how long I'm holding the bus up

tiamai_d

Krystaltips wrote: »

You'd hate me then Tia... My big pram doesn't fold down but has to come apart (if it's not a modern 'wheel it on' bus) and takes at least 2 trips onto the bus... More if there is shopping... But my baby's comfort means more to me than how long I'm holding the bus up

Commoner!!! :rotfl: (and is for a 5min trip?)

bonty44

Charlton_Taz wrote: »

Just a different suggestion....if a fiesta suits you space-wise for day-to-day life why not just get the fiesta, and the just hire a car when you want to go away for the weekend (you can hire a focus for £15-20 per day easily) ...as then you could save yourself £1000s by spending less on a the car upfront (and benefit from cheaper insurance and petrol costs going forward by using a fiesta instead of a focus).

I wish I'd done that. I loved my fiesta, it was a fab car and absolutely fine for the 4 of us day to day, really fuel economic as well. But then the head gasket went and I needed to buy a new car quick and ended up buying a Renault Megane Scenic from the local garage ... can't afford to get rid of it, can just about afford to run it. Wish I'd gone for another fiesta and just hired a bigger car if I'd needed it :rolleyes:

chumbasmum

We had a focus when we had our ds1 in 2003. It is not a huge car but the boot is really deep and there wasn't much that we couldn't get in it. They drive really well as well. We have parents at least 3 hours away so travelling with little ones was no hastle as we could shove anything in - the only problem was the packing and unpacking!!!!
we had no problems with Britax car seats.

We bought an estate car when we had ds2 and really wished that we had stayed with the focus. Nice car and loads of room.

Bigmonty69

I'd watch with the Focus. We have just had a little boy and the seat belts in the Focus are too short to fit around the car seat. We have had to buy an ISO fix base to get the car seat in safely.

Just a word of warning.

ukjoel

Re previous post - Escort is not same size as Focus.
Focus is now bigger than the Mondeo model that was around when they escort was last produced in 1998.

I would say it depends on what stuff you need to move around with you. My mrs has a focus C-Max but this is actually smaller than the current model focus as 2nd generation focus (2005 onward I think) was much bigger than previous model.

So to answer your question it depends if your buying new or used but I would say buy 5 door focus (probably with a 1.6 petrol engine if your doing less that 12k a year. Good clean examples of 3 years old but latest model (pre facelift) are 4-5k on ebay an autotrader.

Becles

I've got a Focus and my Mam has a Fiesta. I can get much more in my boot than she can get in hers. I've got a fold up pushchair in the boot and still have enough room for shopping or the dog.

If my Mam takes my daughter (age 2) shopping she can't get both the shopping and the pushchair in the boot, so she has to put the shopping on the seats and in the footwells.

Never had any problems with short seatbelts as mentioned. We've got a Brittax car seat and it fits fine in my Focus and my husbands Focus estate.

My husbands Focus Estate has masses of room in it. We just did a 2 hour journey to Manchester Airport with the car seat and daughter and our two older children (12 and 10) on the back seat and 3 suitcases, pushchair, baby changing bag and 2 rucksacks in the boot and we managed fine space wise.

barnaby-bear

hazyfish wrote: »

hello, my partner and i are wondering whether to get a ford focus or ford fiesta (5 door)- we're having our first baby in october and want a car big enough to fit all the paraphenalia that goes with a baby when you're going away for weekends and on holiday (including occasional camping). would be very grateful for any advice from parents on whether fiesta might be too small or not.
thank you !
harriet

Why only considering two models from one manufacturer?
We have a large car and a tiddler - we avoid taking the large one into town and on-street parking can be a pain finding a big enough space, a lot of car park spaces are narrow especially if you care about dents/scratches/being able to get in after someone's parked in the next space. Even in large cars the boot may be large but odd shape. The large one won't go in the garage (it will but you can't open the doors to get out) - cars were smaller a few years back I guess.
There are roof boxes for camping trips. I'd go with what suits day-to-day best and where you park.